Ricky Gervais Explains it All For Us: The NewStatesman Interview

New Statesman has a super interview with Ricky Gervais, who says that when asked by someone, "Why don't you believe in God?," he answers: "Which one?" The person asking the question usually has one god in mind: God. Everyone else's god is the Devil. But if Mr. Gervais were a Muslim, he would ask the same question. If Jewish, he would shrug and say, "Oy vay!" But Gervais makes the point of "God's" arbitrary, capricious, fickle wielding of omniscience. What would Occam think of God's multiplicity of entities considering all the extant objects of worship. Surely their odd (and dangerous) diversity is ultimate attributable to a mischievous if not malignant deity. http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/religion/2012/12/ricky-gervai...

Replies to This Discussion

The last time the JW's were at my door, their opening sally was: "If there were a question you could ask god, what would it be?" My answer was that I don't indulge in conversations with non-existent beings and the discussion ran from there. Drawing from Gervais' comment, though, maybe I should have answered: "Which god would I be addressing?"

It's as Jubal Harshaw stated it when discussing the matter with Ben Caxton: "All names belong in the hat."

As to the JW's, or any other schizoid personality who thinks you can talk to the non-existent, here's a poser. Why did you want the Aztec's to cut out a living human heart to insure a corn crop, and after they complied with your wishes, you let Hernan Cortez loose on them? Another? OK. Why did you have the Hawaiians offer blood sacrifices at the luakini heiau, and then use uptight, sexually repressed Christians to damn near wipe them out with the measles? How about this Yhwh, Jesus, Marduke, Thor, Ahura Mazda, or whatever the fuck name you're going by this week, what's your eternal themed park afterlife really like? No. REALLY. Is it an Islamic whore house, the Tertulian version where you eat chips and guacamole while looking down upon those suffering in hell and "high five" each other, a boring Christian stringed ensemble, the Kabbalistic version which resembles the Hindu caste system, or the Mormon version where I get to be my own god and design my own amusement park rides?